Methods of recognizing and/or tracking objects are generally known. Typically, images of a sensing zone are sensed at constant time intervals by a sensor for electromagnetic radiation, for example by a laser scanner or by a video camera. The images are then searched for objects which correspond to real objects in the sensing zone. If an object was found in an image for the first time, a search is made for this object in subsequent cycles of the process to be able to track its position or its change of position over the course of time. For this purpose, starting from the position and speed of an object in a preceding cycle, its position is frequently predicted for a current cycle or in a current image to then be able to associate elements, for example segments, found in the proximity of the predicted position of the object in the image to the object from the preceding cycle and so to be able to sense its current position.
Such methods are, for example, suitable for the monitoring of a zone in front of and/or next to a motor vehicle. A possible advantage of such a monitoring can consist of the fact that suddenly occurring dangers can be automatically recognized and corresponding counter-measures can be initiated. However, it is necessary for this purpose for objects to be able to be recognized very fast and to be able to be tracked precisely.
With the aforesaid method, as the duration of the tracking of an object increases, the precision of the sensed object properties will frequently increase since, in the course of the tracking, further information can be collected on the object which permits a better characterization of the object or of the state of the object. Accordingly, irregularities can in particular occur when new objects occur in images. In the example of the motor vehicle, this can, for example, be a case of pedestrians who, masked by another real object such as a motor vehicle parked at the side of the road, suddenly step into the road and are only then able to be sensed by the sensor. The same problem can occur when pedestrians are positioned in front of a real object such that the object tracking process combines the pedestrian and the real object to form one object so that the pedestrian is also only recognized when he has moved sufficiently far away from the real object.